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MUSHROOMS

 I have eaten them since a child and had no idea of their benefit until becoming a holistic veterinarian. Very recently I discovered that most of the mushrooms I ate in salad bars were raw, and it is best to cook mushrooms. For the last few years I tell my friends to not eat raw mushrooms. A bit of research gives a much more moderate view, which I recommend for most topics, especially food and exercise. There is never too much love and positive thinking!

Well, is it dangerous to eat them raw? Are they still beneficial?  More than with other foods, there was a lot of different opinions and the bottom line is that it really does not matter! 
 

• In a Holistic Actions seminar by Dr. Ihor Basko, a veterinarian passionate about mushrooms in the diet and as supplements for many medical conditions, mentioned that breeds who originated in areas where people ate a lot of mushrooms (usually cooked) could derive more nutrition from them.
• Many types of mushrooms have a lot of chitin (that is what makes shells of insects hard) which is difficult to digest, needing an enzyme. Some said that when cooked, it is easier to break down, others said no. 
• Enhanced availability of some vitamins and nutrients but less of others. 
• Some say agaritine breaks down with heat, so its potential to damage DNA (found in portobello, white button, and crimini mushrooms) would be less when cooked. Others say the quantity would need to be large to cause a problem.
• A 2009 showed enhanced cancer protection from cooking mushrooms. 
• My moderate thinking is now EAT MUSHROOMS - cooked and raw - as part of a varied diet. (Non-poisonous ones, of course.)

Medical benefits of mushrooms: 

Did you know that medicinal mushrooms (we are not talking about the ones that grow on the side of the walking trail) have been used for many years to support humans and animals. Some of the mushrooms have been even called the mushrooms of immortality.

In veterinary medicine they have been used to

• Activate immune system
• Cancer prevention and therapy
• Geriatric medicine
• Prevention of degenerative diseases, and much more.

Miraculous beneficial life of mushrooms
Only in the last decade have I learned the incredible benefit of the world of fungi. The underground mycelium provide a network for trees to communicate with each other and even send nutrients to each other, help tree roots absorb nutrients, and even neutralize organic wastes into simple, easily absorbed nutrients.

This is why there is much debate in the current mushroom field as to make products only from the fruiting body (what looks like a mushroom to us) or to also use the mycelium. Part of this depends on how much of the growing medium is harvested with the mycelium and if it is organic.

They can detoxify our dead bodies (which are full of polluting chemicals even before embalming). In the last decade mushroom burial shrouds are made, especially for those choosing more natural burials (not in the concrete box which under most cemetery plots.)

They eat the plastic in the oceans, clean up oil spills, clean many pollutants when land is being remediated. One speaker showed photos of fungi in bags of straw placed where a factory was sending toxins into a stream. The water flowing through the bags had none to very little of the toxins just above the bags. 

To continue reading more about mushrooms, go to my free article on my site. 

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